Covert 4:3 DVD to 16:9

[phowe]

I have a wedding DVD which is in 4:3 (Handbrake confirms it has aspect ratio 1.33, although it says the source is 720x576 - which I don't really understand - sorry... newbie!)

I am using Premiere CS4 to build a 16:9 movie with some of this 4:3 content. I'm happy to crop the top and bottom off the 4:3 footage in order to keep quality - but can someone tell me how to do this using either Handbrake or Premiere CS4?

Just let me know if you need any further information. Thanks.

[FulciLives]

To go from 4:3 PAL (720x576) to 16x9 PAL (720x576) you need to cut 72 from the top and 72 from the bottom for a total of 144 cut total which will give you a frame of 720x432 and then you resize from 720x432 to 720x576 and if you do this then you just made your footage 16x9 anamorphic.

I don't use the programs you mentioned but you must be careful how you resize interlaced footage! Most likely Premiere will do it correctly by default (knock on wood) but I know nothing about Handbrake.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[guns1inger]

Or you can add black bars up each size to preserve the 4:3 image inside a 16:9 from.

You need to be careful cropping 4:3 material to create 16:9 video if it was shot with that intention. Generally material shot 4:3 fills the frame, and simply cropping from the top and bottom results in people's heads being cut off and other unfortunate incidents. If you must crop to produce 16:9, do so in an editor that allows you to then re-frame the image within the new borders. This is time consuming work that requires the ability to use keyframing to effectively animate the position of the image within the frame to keep the right parts of the image visible.

A simple crop and resize of this type of material generally looks hack-and-slash and is distracting to watch. I would seriously consider pillarboxing instead.